Rohani hands authority over nuclear talks to Foreign Ministry, suggesting more compromising approach. 'This hardly ensures a deal, but it does suggest Iran will engage in earnest diplomacy,' analyst says

Reuters|Published: 09.05.13 , 22:08

Iranian President Hassan Rohani
said on Thursday the Foreign Ministry would take over talks with world powers on Iran's contested nuclear program, an apparent move to smooth the diplomatic process after years of control by conservative hardliners.

Since 2007, sporadic negotiations have been conducted by Saeed Jalili, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war who was seen by Western interlocutors as an uncompromising ideologue.

Announcing Rohani's move, the state news agency IRNA gave no further detail as to who would be the chief negotiator to replace Jalili. But there were indications that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif could either lead the Iranian negotiating team himself or appoint another Foreign Ministry official.

"This is an encouraging development. Zarif is a very skilled diplomat and the negotiating team he appoints will be knowledgeable and creative. This hardly ensures a deal, but it does suggest Iran
will engage in earnest diplomacy," Cliff Kupchan, a director and Middle East analyst at risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told Reuters.

Rohani, a relative moderate elected in June to replace conservative hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
may be trying to streamline nuclear diplomacy and is looking to exert more influence, although Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, retains the final say on any proposed deals.

The last round of negotiations in April with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany again fell short of any breakthrough. But some believe more progress can be achieved under Rohani, who has pledged a more conciliatory and transparent approach to foreign policy by the Islamic Republic.

The powers are keen to restart negotiations quickly amid concerns over Iran expanding its nuclear capacity. They believe Tehran's nuclear work is aimed at giving it the capacity to make bombs. Iran denies having any military intentions and says it needs nuclear power for energy generation and medical research.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton,
who oversees negotiations with Iran on behalf of the six powers, said on Thursday they were ready to hold a new round as soon as possible.

"We are in touch with the Iranian side and as the high representative has already told the Iranian foreign minister in their phone conversation in August, we stand ready to resume negotiations," Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann said.

Frustrating pace

Diplomats have said that the six had hoped to hold talks in September but no dates have been set so far, while Ashton waited for the appointment of a new Iranian negotiator before making suggestions.

Russia has expressed alarm at the slow progress in agreeing the next six-party talks with Iran.

"The process of forming (Iran's) delegation has still not been finalized and this worries us," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency. "We call on other members of the 'six' and Iran to agree as soon as possible the place and time of the next round."

The six world powers have demanded Tehran cease enrichment of uranium to a fissile purity of 20% to reduce concerns that it could be used for nuclear weapons. Rohani has defended Iran's "right" to enrich uranium, a precondition that has help scuttle any progress in past talks.

Nuclear experts say Rohani's announcement of Foreign Ministry stewardship of the talks could mean more flexibility on the Iranian side but cautioned that prospects for a quick deal in the decade-old nuclear standoff were slim.

"Iran's negotiating partners will be delighted at this news," said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "After two years of sitting across from the lecturing, uncompromising, and charisma-challenged Jalili, they now have an interlocutor who will want to do business.

"But it certainly doesn't mean the West's troubles are over. There are plenty of skeptics in Tehran, beginning with Supreme Leader Khamenei, who don't necessarily want to strike a deal."